


Phobia

by WyldstileTH



Category: Hoshi no Kaabii | Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, Kirby (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Fear, Gen, Halloween, Horror, Hurt/Comfort, Past AU, Pizza, lol pizza is a regular tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:15:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26793493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WyldstileTH/pseuds/WyldstileTH
Summary: Phobia (noun) -- an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something.
Comments: 15
Kudos: 20





	1. Lupophobia

**Author's Note:**

> HALLOWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!!!
> 
> Past Inshoku-ten no Dreamland AU.

Bandana sat at her desk, bored out of her mind. Just a few more hours and she’d be out. Just a few more hours and she’d be able to head to Dedede’s house. Just a few more hours until the weekend. Just a few more hours until-oh Nova, did she  _ hate _ history!

She looked at the clock.  _ Tick………….Tick………. _

She groaned, why was time so slow?! 

Her teacher, someone with a monotonous voice and forgettable name, droned on and on about trade routes in the early world. Like, how would any of this help them in the real world? Meta Knight was right; school is pointless to our education. Wait, but Meta Knight also says that stabbings are normal. He  _ can’t _ be right. Meta Knight and right are just two words that don’t go in the same sentence.

_ RIIIIIIIIIING! _

“And be sure to read chapter nine in your textbook,” the teacher said as everyone was sure to not listen and run out the door, “and take notes.”

* * *

_ Finally! _ Bandana breathed a sigh of relief after the final bell rang. It felt so good to be free for the weekend! She couldn’t wait to get to Dedede’s house for their sleepover! It had nearly  _ killed _ Dedede to hear that Meta Knight had never really had a  _ real _ sleepover. Speaking of which:

“Are you just going to silently follow me, or are you going to say something?” Bandana turned around as she spoke to stop the short person in his tracks. His ears flattened and turned slightly red.

He put his left hand on the back of his neck, causing his loose sleeve to fall and expose part of his tattoo, “ _ Apologies, Bandana-Chan… _ ”

Bandana sighed, “Popstarian, please.”

“Sorry…” He looked down at the ground with a shameful expression, “Please don’t make me watch The Notebook.”

Bandana nearly burst out laughing, “I would never make you watch that trash! Have you seen it?!”

“My ex forced me to watch it with him when we were together.” His ears were no longer flattened, but his eyes were red for a second when he spoke about his ex, “I thought you might force me to watch it because you’re a female.”

Bandana laughed again, “Not all girls like that trash, I’d rather watch Disney movies! Speaking of which, do you want to see Big Hero 6? It comes out next week-ish, but I’m already so excited for it!!! Oh, and-”

“Stop talking so fast. You’re going to give me a headache.” Meta Knight rolled his eyes and continued walking towards the fourth-year’s parking lot. Neither of them were fourth-years, but, sometimes, it pays to have a friend who’s a fourth-year with generous, business-owning parents.

Bandana hugged her fantasy novel closer to her chest as they approached the parking lot, they were almost always harassed near the parking lot because neither of them were anywhere close to fourth-year age, and it didn’t help that Meta Knight’s last name was Nightmare.

A fourth-year with red wolf ears and tail and some red fur on his body approached Bandana and smiled at her. The smile, however, did not seem kind and it sent shivers down her spine. Meta Knight froze next to her. She glanced at him and his eyes were a very pale yellow fading more and more.

The fourth-year pressed Bandana against the wall, “Hey there, you’re a junior tennis player right?” His right hand moved from the wall to the side of her face, “You’re pretty cute, too~”

Bandana was rightfully scared of this person, this was a fourth-year aged at eighteen, “Uh… Meta Knight?”

She caught his eye and his eyes brightened back up little. He walked a step closer to the fourth-year and spoke to him in Majjic, “ _ Wolfwrath, leave her al- _ ”

Wolfwrath instantly turned around and slammed his fist into the side of Meta Knight’s head. He growled, “ _ Don’t you  _ dare _ tell  _ me _ what to do. _ ”

Bandana made a terrified squeak when Wolfwrath turned back toward her. He opened his mouth full of fangs to speak to Bandana once more, but they heard an administrator call him over. Wolfwrath turned towards the administrator, flipped him off, and kicked Meta Knight in the stomach, hard, before he ran off.

The administrator looked at them, rolled his eyes, and walked away as he wrote something down. Bandana kneeled down to help Meta Knight stand back up, “Are you okay?”

Bandana could tell that he wore an expression of pain under his mask. His eyes were a pale yellow when he opened them to nod at Bandana. She helped him walk to Dedede’s car, where he was most likely waiting.

* * *

Dedede was leaning against his car when Bandana and Meta Knight came over. Meta Knight was leaning against Bandana and clutching his stomach.

Dedede opened the car doors for the other two to get in and asked, as he was starting the car, “So what happened to you two?”

Bandana looked over at Dedede as he started driving, “We had a run-in with Wolfwrath…”

“I froze up…” Meta Knight spoke.

“It looks like more happened than you just freezin’ up.”

Bandana spoke in a distressed manner, “He tried to make a move on me, then Meta Knight tried to stop him, and Wolfwrath punched him in the side of the head and kicked him after an administrator called to us, but the administrator didn’t help and Wolfwrath ran, and-”

“I still deserved getting beat-up, for freezing like that. Father will just do the same thing, but worse when I get home…”

Dedede laughed, despite Meta Knight’s comment, “No one can control that mutt! An’ don’ worry Meta, ya ain’t goin’ home tonight!”

“But I deserve-”

Bandana chucked her book in his direction to get him to shut up, “Your dad isn’t supposed to hit you. Stop talking about it like it’s normal and do something about it.”

“But-”

Bandana threw one of her notebooks in the back seat at him, “And I’ve got six more notebooks, extra shoes, my phone, and my entire backpack.”

Meta Knight made a move like he was going to say something again and Bandana held up another notebook, so he shut up. Dedede laughed again, “Y’all guys are great, but there are some rules to sleepin’ over, you know em, Meta?” Meta Knight responded in the negative, so Dedede continued, “Righ’ so first rule is that we gotta find movies we all agree on and watch some of em, but tonight is Halloween, so those movies gotta be scary! Another thing is that Bandana is the only girl and we’re not allowed to make any moves on her, but I don’t think you would ever do that.

“Last, but not least, ya ain’t allowed to wear yer mask. Bandana doesn’t wear her’s and you’re not gonna wear your’s. … What are you doin’?”

“Trying to open the door to jump out… Bandana stop locking the door.” Meta Knight kept trying to open the door, but Bandana kept on pressing the lock button every time he unlocked it forcibly.

What a wonderful sleepover this would be indeed!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fear of wolves or werewolves.
> 
> I’m sorry if you really like The Notebook, I’ve never seen it and only know it’s a love story, so my opinion is not valid.


	2. Aphenphosmphobia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The three look for a movie to start the night and order some pizza.

“Wow.” Dedede’s mouth was widely agape as he looked at Meta Knight’s maskless face. Meta Knight rolled his silver eyes and shoved the glasses he kept in his pocket onto his face, only to be met with cracked and half working lenses.

“S**t.” Meta Knight took off the glasses and put his mask back on to look at them.

Dedede crossed his arms at Meta Knight redonning his mask, “Hey, I said no masks.”

Meta Knight once again rolled his eyes and shot Dedede a look, “I’m blind, you imbecile.” There was a pause before both Dedede and Bandana called out in surprise, “Neither of you could tell? I can’t see without the magic lens of my mask or the magic lens of my glasses.”

“Dude, we didn’t even know you had glasses.” Dedede put his hands up to his face to make it look like he had glasses on, “But what happened to yer glasses.”

Bandana grabbed them out of Meta Knight’s hand, making him recoil for a moment when her finger touched him, “They must have gotten broken when Wolfwrath punched you down. Do they still work?”

Meta Knight took off his mask and put the glasses back on. They  _ definitely _ didn’t work right. Everything was extremely blurry and each of the cracks was like a giant blind spot. He looked over at Bandana and could barely tell how far away she was from him, “They work fine.”

Dedede shrugged, “Eh, if you’re fine with that. Now let’s look for a movie!”

* * *

The had been scrolling through Netflix for nearly an hour, Dedede, Bandana, and Meta Knight all had such opposite views about what should be a part of their movie. Dedede wanted a horror-comedy, Bandana didn’t want the movie to be too scary, and Meta Knight wanted a classic horror film. After another ten whole minutes of pressing the next button, they all decided to give up and get something for dinner.

In the kitchen, Dedede looked around the pantry, “Do either o’ you have any talents in th’ kitchen?”

Bandana shrugged and Meta Knight said, “Not unless you count the ability to set water on fire by boiling it.” They both looked at him because they knew that his father often wouldn’t bother with Meta Knight’s needs. Meta Knight sighed, “… I go hungry a lot.”

“You need to report your father to the police or th’ government or somethin’.” Dedede looked at Meta Knight.

Meta Knight rolled his eyes, “Imagine being a police officer, or government official, and the son of one of the most powerful men in the world comes in and says he ‘doesn’t treat me right’, as you say, you would run for the hills, would you not? Besides, he only does to me what I deserve.”

Bandana rolled her entire head instead of just her eyes as an exaggeration, “Anyways,” she pulled out her phone and started dialing a number, “what kind of pizza do you guys want?”

Dedede made a gesture to thank Bandana, “Anchovy!”

“How speicially accurate.” Meta Knight said sarcastically, “White or pineapple… or pineapple on white.”

Dedede flinched away from Meta Knight like he was a barrel of radioactive waste, “You’re disgusting!”

“And you’re a stereotype given form, can we move on?”

Bandana laughed as she put the phone to her ear, “He has a point, but there is no way that not even Nova herself will be able to get me to order a pineapple pizza.” Meta Knight sadly hung his head as Bandana began telling the operator their order, which ended up being a total of three pizzas: one with anchovies, one regular cheese, and one white pizza.

While they waited for the pizza to arrive, they continued searching Netflix and arguing over what movie to watch. Suddenly, Meta Knight ripped the remote from Dedede’s hands and went to the search bar and tried to type in  _ The Cabin in the Woods _ , but ended up typing in  _ Rhe Cqnlm lm the Wppds _ , “It’s funny, not the most scary, and can nearly be considered a classic, and even better; I haven’t seen it yet.”

Bandana and Dedede just kind of looked at him and Dedede said, “We have no idea what that says…”

Bandana mumbled something about lying that glasses work as Meta Knight verbally said what he meant while he took off the broken glasses and tossed them aside. Dedede typed in the movie, “This movie looks perfect!” Dedede smacked Meta Knight on the back, causing an adorable squeak to come out of the small teen, “Great job, Meta!”

“Please do not touch me,” Meta Knight’s face flushed with embarrassment, “I do not like it. Also, may I put my mask back on to see the movie?”

Meta Knight felt someone push a rounded piece of metal against his face and opened his eyes to be face-to-face with Bandana. He felt his face heat up again as she was inches from his mask, as well as touching him. Bandana squinted her eyes as she looked at his eyes, “What does the color of your eyes mean, you’ve never told us and they’re almost constantly changing.”

“Please take your hand off of mine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The fear of being touched.
> 
> Speicially accurate means the same as racially accurate, race in this universe is just a person’s species.
> 
> I have just realized how boring this story must be so far, and I apologize for that. But don't worry:
> 
> Fear takes form next. :)


	3. Arachnophobia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, you know me so well. Chapter Burst (Tm) time! :D
> 
> I have 4 chapters of 3 different stories ready to be uploaded! Enjoy the first pick of those!

The three teenagers sat watching the third movie of the night. They had decided that each of them could choose a movie after their first one. Bandana watched nearly every movie through her hands and jumped into Dedede every time there was a jumpscare or other scary scene, she couldn’t wait to pick out her own movie, one not so  _ scary _ . Dedede laughed at the first movie of the night,  _ The Cabin in the Woods _ , and laughed at his chosen movie,  _ Tucker and Dale vs Evil _ . Meta Knight chose  _ The Shining _ to watch when it was his turn. To which Bandana also freaked out about.

“Stop crying,” Meta Knight didn’t even look at her as he told her to shut up, “This isn’t even one of the scary ones.”

Bandana made a cute whining noise as Jack Torrence walked around the Overlook hotel and into room 237. She squeaked as the chaos that happens in the room ensues, “I didn’t grow up watching this stuff! It’s scary!”

Meta Knight rolled his eyes and rested his elbow on the couch’s armrest. Dedede shot him a glare.

* * *

When the movie finished, Bandana began looking for a movie she wanted to watch. Dedede told her that she didn’t have to pick a horror movie if she didn’t want to, but Meta Knight rolled his eyes and scoffed, an action that caused Bandana to feel like a buzzkill and begin looking for a horror movie despite her better interests. Dedede smiled largely and called Meta Knight over to him to help out with a “guy thing” so that Bandana wouldn’t try to come with them.

The moment Dedede knew he and Meta Knight were out of sight and earshot of Bandana he grabbed Meta Knight’s shoulder and slammed him against the wall. Meta Knight winced at the sudden contact with Dedede and the harsh contact with the wall. Dedede got down in his face and angrily whispered, “What is  _ wrong _ with you?”

“Many things. Keep going.”

“Why would you do that to her? She can’t help that she’s afraid!”

“Whisper any louder and she may hear.”

“There is nothing wrong with the way she feels!”

“That would be an incorrect statement.”

Dedede took Meta Knight away from the wall for a second, then slammed him back into the wall, harder than before. He continued his angry whisper, “I never even wanted to be around you,  _ she  _ is the  _ only _ reason you’re here and not at home getting beaten by yer dad!  _ She _ is the only reason I ever even thought about being your friend! Tell me why you are treating her like this!”

Meta Knight made a shrugging motion, “I thought you became my  _ mikata _ because I kicked your a*s.”

The two heard a terrified shriek coming from the living room. Dedede dropped Meta Knight with a  _ we’ll-continue-this-later _ -look and the two began to head back towards the living room to see what was wrong. They both arrived to see Bandana on the couch, cowering from some unseen terror.

“Bandee, what’s wrong?” Dedede asked, slightly worried, “Did one of the movies freak you out?”

She shook her head, “N-no, there’s a sp-spider!”

Meta Knight rolled his eyes and looked where Bandana had been pointing from her terrified position on the couch. He located the spider and slowly impaled it with a golden blade containing a ruby in its hilt. After he was satisfied with the poor spider’s slow, painful death, he murmured “coward,” directed at Bandana.

Bandana sighed in relief at the horrific monster’s destruction. She pressed a button on the remote and the movie that she chose,  _ The Nightmare Before Christmas _ , popped up, “I know it’s not a horror movie, but it’s still a Halloween movie. So it counts, right?”

Dedede and Meta Knight both made contradicting statements, but Bandana went with Dedede’s positive remark on account that he was the host of the sleepover. Meta Knight sat down on the floor near where he had laid down his blade, while Dedede and Bandana sat on the couch together.

About one-third of the way through the movie, Meta Knight felt a sharp sting on his ankle and found a spider sinking its fangs into his delicious flesh. It hurt a lot for a small, black house spider. He swatted it off.

Bandana made a small squeak and slapped her neck. She looked at her hand and it was covered in the guts of a small, black house spider. She screamed.

While he was trying to comfort Bandana and clean off her hand, Dedede felt a stabbing pain on the top of his hand. He pulled it away from Bandana as an instinctive reflex and saw a small, black house spider. He threw it off of his hand towards Meta Knight, who grabbed it off of the floor after it landed.

Meta Knight held the spider in between his thumb and index finger. He held it close to his face and looked at the markings on it. It looked remarkably similar to a Black Widow spider, but the marking wasn’t red. The marking was purple.

Purple. The mark was purple and not the natural color of red. Purple was a color affiliated with his father. The hourglass shape was also remarkably similar to the logo for his company, the Holy Nightmare Co.

Meta Knight slowly crushed the abomination in his fingers and watched the poison contained in the artificial creature leak out of its crushed form, “Dedede, Bandana… this was made by my father.”

“What? You mean the spider?” Dedede asked, while Bandana freaked out about being touched by a spider.

“Yes, and it is full of poison,” Meta Knight looked back at the crushed creature in his hand, “This one still has an awful lot of poison in it still, meaning that your’s contained more poison than mine and Bandana’s, meaning you didn’t get the intended dose amount.”

Bandana squeaked, “P-p-p-poison?! Why p-p-poison?! I don’t want to die!”

“You’re not dying, baka. It’s obviously going to be a non-lethal poison. At most it will incapacitate us at a regulated dose and kill us at a high dose,” Meta Knight said as he rolled his eyes, like this much was obvious.

“How d’you know that?” Dedede squinted his eyes in suspicion at the know-it-all on his living room floor.

“My father would not kill us like this; it is not direct or indirect enough,” Meta Knight continued when the others looked like they had questions, “It’s too average for him.”

Bandana freaked out all of a sudden and hugged Dedede while she buried her face into his arm. He asked her what was wrong and she pointed to the hallway. Dedede and Meta Knight looked down the hallway, seeing nothing and hearing nothing.

Dedede patted Bandana, telling her that there was nothing there, but she shook her head, heald on tighter, and told them that it was just hiding and she knew it was there. Dedede craned his neck to try and see whatever was causing Bandana to freak out so much.

A giant spider.

There. Was. A.  _ Huge  _ spider!

It was black with glowing red eyes, sharp fangs dripping with poison, and long legs covered in pointy sharp hairs. It was almost as large as the hallway itself. It growled, causing Meta Knight to turn towards it and Bandana to hang onto Dedede tighter. It stopped growling and everything was eerily quiet and still…

…

It sped after them, ready to chase them to Halcandria and back so that it could enjoy its meal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do I really need to put what it’s the fear of? Fine… the fear of spiders.
> 
> Don’t worry about the poison right now, I think I’ll have Meta Knight explain it in the next chapter. I also have the goal of the next chapter being the last chapter, but only one chapter with the main plot makes it seem like I’ve moved too slow with the setup, but I want this to finish on or before HallowEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEn!
> 
> This just in: I have decided on 5 chapters total.


	4. Phobophobia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Exercise is never a bad thing. Right?

The three teenagers were breathing heavily, trying to catch their breath after running as fast as they could up the stairs and into the upstairs bathroom. Dedede saw that both Bandana and Meta Knight looked like they were going to be sick, “Are you two okay? Is it the poison?”

Meta Knight coughed and shook his head, “The poison doesn’t feel like it does this…. I can’t catch my breath… and she’s just a p***y.”

Bandana thrust her elbow into Meta Knight’s stomach and gave him a “well how dare you” kind of look. Dedede gave him the same look.

Dedede waited for Bandana to catch her breath, then they both waited for Meta Knight to catch his breath. Eventually, Meta Knight was able to get back up into a standing position, even if he was still breathing heavily. Dedede opened the door as quietly as he could and peaked out slowly. The spider wasn’t there.

Dedede sighed in relief, “Hey, the spider’s not there. Do you still need a second, Meta?”

Between breaths, he answered that he was good now and the three teens exited the bathroom. They trekked precariously down the hall, keeping an eye out for the spider. In their focus on the spider, they didn’t notice the shadowy creature creeping behind them. The shadowy creature identified the group’s weakest link at the moment and assessed which one it could take out with ease.

In continuing to catch his breath as they walked, Meta Knight thought he heard a growling behind them and stopped walking to turn around. The other two took a second to notice he wasn’t following them anymore, but they eventually stopped and turned around to see what he was doing.

While Meta Knight tried to figure out what he had heard, the creature jumped out of the shadows and pounced on Meta Knight. Meta Knight was trying to get it off until he saw what it was and froze while his eyes paled. A wolf and it was intelligent.

Dedede began to run over, but the wolf growled ferociously and Dedede backed away. He lowered his face to whisper to Bandana, “Do you still have that knife on you?”

Bandana reached down to her belt and pulled out the knife she always had on her for self-defense… and in case Meta Knight tried to kill them. She handed the pocket knife over to Dedede, who was stronger and braver than her. He took the knife and readied himself to tackle the wolf.

Dedede wrestled the wolf off of Meta Knight and was holding it to the ground as Bandana ran over to Meta Knight to make sure he was okay. Dedede stabbed the wolf many times in its stomach, thighs, neck, and chest until it started whimpering and Dedede got up off of it.

Bandana was knelt down by Meta Knight, inspecting his wounds, “Meta, are you okay?”

As his response, Meta Knight turned to the side, vomited, and then passed out. There were many deep cuts and scratches all over his body. Some bits of his shirt was torn, causing Bandana to blush slightly as she saw his abs. 

She noticed a tattoo that she had never noticed before that was on Meta Knight's right bicep. It was a darkly colored purple and seemed to be a figure shaped like an hourglass with horns. She wondered why he would never show them this tattoo if he has shown them all of his others. Bandana realized that he had shown his other tattoos because he was proud of them… meaning he wasn’t proud of this one…. She moved his shirt to cover the picture etched into his skin.

After Dedede caught his breath, “B-Bandana, Meta… is he okay?” 

Dedede and Bandana both watched with wide eyes as Meta Knight’s injuries seemed to heal in front of their very eyes. They both looked at each other as Meta Knight’s wounds completely closed up, leaving nothing, not even a scar.

* * *

The two had gone into Dedede’s room to hide. Dedede had carried Meta Knight in and put him on his bed. After a while, Meta Knight had woken up, even if he had seemed a bit timid. Bandana had noticed that he kept covering his right bicep once he was more aware of his torn clothes and what was going on. She wasn’t planning to ever ask him about it.

After a bit of time had passed of silence, Dedede decided it would be a good time to break the ice with a few humorous remarks or so, “You puked in my hallway, yer cleaning it up.”

“Absolutely not!” Meta Knight crossed his arms, “I do not do peasant work!”

Dedede and Bandana laughed. Bandana decided now would be a good time to ask Meta Knight why he knew about the poison, on account that it was made by his dad.

Meta Knight’s ears flattened and his eyes turned a shade of green, Bandana noted that he seemed to be thinking, “Based on what I’ve seen, it seems to be less of a poison and more of a neurotransmitter that causes us to reflect some of our deepest fears onto the real world. If that is the case, and it was normal, then the projections would be nothing more than hallucinations, but seeing as the… w… thing… pushed me down, they are mostly real,” he took a shaky breath before continuing, “It is possible that my father liquefied a spell to infuse into a lab-engineered spider. The spell seems to cause the affected to suffer from their fears coming to life,” he took a quick breath before continuing, “Dedede, what’s your greatest fear?”

“What?” Dedede looked at Meta Knight, “I thought it didn’t get me?”

“Correct, but you were still bitten,” Meta Knight pointed to the bite the spider had left earlier, “meaning some of the spell is still in your system.”

A question popped into Bandana’s head, “Since you seem to know so much about spells, do you know when it stops?”

Meta Knight seemed to think for a moment, “Spells, in their natural form, can last a long time because they are non-corporeal. Once you make a spell corporeal, it causes it to defuse much faster because it now has a physical form that is affected by physical things,” he turned to Bandana, “so the spell should be properly extinguished by the early morning.”

“Really? Just like that?” Dedede asked.

“Yes,” Meta Knight’s ears drooped, “Spells are, however, considered much more powerful when in a physical form… so our fears  _ will _ be able to  _ hurt us  _ if we don’t handle them correctly, the spell does not kill.”

Bandana and Dedede looked at each other. It was a terrifying thought to be killed by your worst fear in front of your close friends. Dedede shivered at the thought of what he was afraid of. He didn’t want to meet that or go there whatsoever, “So if we just stay here, we’ll be good?”

Meta Knight thought for a moment, “Yes, but only if none of your fears can manifest as a feeling. Again, I ask, Dedede: what are you afraid of? Tell me your deepest fear.”

Dedede kind of just looked at and watched the smaller person, not wishing to detail his past trauma to the one person constantly making comments about how people are weak and that fear is a show of weakness, “I guess I don’t really have one…” he rubbed the back of his neck in shame, his show of lying.

Bandana, who was aware of Dedede’s fear and why he is afraid of it, noticed his lying tick but made no mention of it. Meta Knight watched Dedede skeptically but nodded anyway and got off of the bed and stood up. Meta Knight peeked out the door and signaled the others to follow. They entered the hallway, only to be met with a horrifically huge spider.

And it was hungry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The fear of phobias. Stop laughing! It’s real, I promise!


	5. Mnemophobia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A reflection of past events is never bad, right? Neither are closets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I put the fear featured as the title, it would ruin the moment Dedede gets a turn to face his fear (it’s too commonplace). So it’s instead tied to the way the story is told.

Dedede and Meta Knight were left breathing heavily and hiding in a closet together. They had lost Bandana while they were chased by the spider and they could only hope that she could get away from it and come find them again. Why did she need to come find them though? Well:

The moment the two had entered and shut the door, Dedede had realized what a huge mistake this was. Meta Knight had tried to open the door after being sure the spider had left but found it stuck by some unseen force.

Dedede had tried to stay calm but was unsuccessful and his heart rate had begun rising with his breathing. Every wall in the room seemed to be closing in on him and he felt like he was suffocating. He could tell that Meta Knight was trying to say something to him, but he couldn’t tell what he was trying to say. He seemed so far away despite them being in such close quarters.

Meta Knight, who was also breathing heavily for other reasons, kept trying to ask Dedede what was wrong. Dedede closed his eyes harshly and shook his head with rough force. Meta Knight could vaguely tell that the other person in the closet with him was having a panic attack. There was only one way that Meta Knight knew of to calm someone having a panic attack, and that was with physical violence. So, Meta Knight slapped Dedede in the face with the back of his hand.

Dedede, who was utterly taken aback, just looked at the smaller teen and spoke quietly, “D… did you jus’ slap me?”

“Well, yes, maybe I did,” Meta Knight crossed his arms and spoke mockingly, “Why are you having a panic attack, Mr. Fearless?”

In all honesty, Dedede had completely forgotten about being stuck in such a small closet until he was asked that, “I… I’d r-rather not… talk about it…”

“Is it because you’re a p***y?”

Dedede sighed angrily, “Listen here, little f**ker: I don’t care about you, I only care about Bandana. I don’t care what kind of s**t you go through. I most certainly don’t care to share the s**t that I go through with  _ you _ . And, if you don’t mind, I’m gonna listen to anything else ya have to say.”

There was silence for a while before Meta Knight turned to Dedede and said, “But I just took your mind off of our location…”

Dedede turned to Meta Knight, realizing that he was right. Dedede didn’t seem to mind being in such a confined space if he was focused on being angry at Meta Knight. Dedede sighed as a silent way of thanking him, “A couple a years ago, I was in a really bad car accident that left me stuck in the car panicking,” Dedede heard Meta Knight turn to him, “A drunk driver ran my parents’ car off of the road and the car rolled down the steep hill… my parents were both knocked out, leaving me alone…” Dedede inhaled a shaky breath as tears started to form in the corners of his eyes, “I tried getting into their phones t-to call for help… b-but the-they had passwords… and I didn’ know em… I was jus… just left there in the car panicking and in pain for what seemed like days…”

Dedede felt someone pat his back and saw Meta Knight’s hand on his shoulder. Meta Knight kept looking forward as he shared with Dedede, “When I was around seven, my father engineered a w… wo… wol… pet for me when I was asking him for a d-d-dog.”

Dedede chuckled sadly, “Tha’ doesn’t seem so bad… but knowing yer dad…”

“He used her to punish me…” Meta Knight’s gaze moved to the floor, “He would lock me in an empty room with it and control its movements… it scared her too… and I hated it… it hurt….”

Dedede sighed, “I’m sorry, I understand how a pet feels to you when you’re little-”

“I hated her and that’s what hurt…” the light from his eyes dimmed into a dark blue-gray color, “She loved me and I made sure she knew I hated her s-so much…”

Meta Knight removed his mask and put it down next to him. His eyes were still that same color but now Dedede could see streaks of tears streaming down Meta Knight’s face. He had never seen the smaller teen cry and now fully understood why that wolf from earlier and Wolfwrath make him freeze up. It was a feeling of guilt from being afraid even if his fear was justified.

Dedede’s face fell and he heard Meta Knight shuffle, “Meta, look, I’m so sorry… for everything.”

Dedede hugged the other in the small space and, for the first time, Meta Knight didn’t pull away from the hug. Both forgot all about their fears.

* * *

“Wow… did all of that really happen?” Kirby asked brightly once Dedede finished.

“Yep!” Dedede nodded, “The spell wore off, we got out of the closet, and we found Bandana up on the couch like she was cowering from a mouse!” Dedede laughed loudly.

Bandana ran her fingers through her hair in embarrassment, “Heheh… it  _ was _ a large spider…”

Kirby clapped and smiled brightly, “That sounds like one crazy Halloween! Are you all still scared of that stuff?”

“We have progressed to handle our fears accordingly-” Meta Knight tried, but was interrupted by Dedede.

“What he means is ‘yes, but actually no’!” Dedede laughed when Meta Knight gave him a salty glare. Bandana smiled as she remembered how good of friends Dedede and Meta Knight became after the Halloween of her second year of high school.

  
“Ow!” Kirby suddenly squealed and smacked at a spider on his arm…  _ oh no _ .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The fear of memories, whether it’s about remembering them or forgetting them.
> 
> And like that, the Halloween special has been concluded to be released the night before Halloween so that it is noticed on Halloween! It’s just like Jack Black said in that one movie no one cares about: all good stories have a twist! I wonder what Kirby’s fear would be… let’s analize!
> 
> So, in the anime Nightmare said that the only thing Kirby cares about is food (in front of Fumu might I add, which is heartbreaking) so Kirby is given a nightmare about foodicide, but Nightmare was trying to see what Kirby cares about to destroy it in front of him. In an earlier episode of the anime (the one with the nightmare pillows that was so cheap it’s hilarious) Kirby is given a nightmare meant to scare him and turn him against Kirby, but all he ends up getting is clips of him getting beat up by various characters (Meta Knight and Whispy Woods to name a few). He doesn’t seem to be afraid of these people because he commonly enjoys going to see Whispy Woods (although Whispy *does* give him food and he never really runs to Meta Knight or goes up to him at all, but he also runs up to Dedede with ease). Based on this evidence I can say that (at least anime Kirby) is afraid of getting hurt or is afraid of the people that *do* hurt him until they make amends (usally by food).

**Author's Note:**

> And just like that, the Halloween 2020 Special is concluded and is my first finished thing on this site, if you don't count one-shots.
> 
> Don't forget to tell me how you liked it and leave some Kudos!
> 
> Oh, yeah, I'm not doing anything for Thanksgiving seasonally, so don't ask. :)


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